Corset and method of making the same



Sept 13,'1960 H. ECKMANN 2,952,261

CORSET AND METHOD OF' MAKING THE SAME Filed Sept. l5. 1958 INVCNTOR HANS E C KMANN United States Patent O l 2,952,261 CORSET AND METHOD oF MAKING THE SAME Hans Eckmann, No. 1 Prins Bernhardlaan, Alkmaar, Netherlands Filed Sept. 15, `1958, ser. No. 761,073 Claims priority, application Netherlands Apr. 11, 1958 `4 claims. (ci. 12s-54s) This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a half-section of a corset, a corselet, a panty, a brassiere, a bathing suit or like garment, and also to a garment manufactured by said method. For the sake of simplicity, I shall hereinafter refer to a corset only, also in the appended claims, it being understood, however, that said term is to be construed in the widest possible sense.

An important object of my invention is to provide a garment of the above-mentioned character, which, While alfording freedom of movement to the user under various conditions, will provide an appreciable and yet resilient inward pressure upon the part of the body covered by said section or sections so as to sustain this part and thus alording a slendering appearance.

In known corsets, these objects are realized by the cut of the corset and by the use of relatively heavy, in most cases non-elastic material and of bones, that is to say, they are not increased by the transformation of the corset when stretched by the body of the user; with a garment comprising one or more sections made in accordance with my invention, however, they are attained by said transformation only.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, which, although the construction of my garment is somewhat diicult to illustrate two-dimensionally, will be readily understood by anyone skilled in the art.

Fig. l of said drawing illustrates the manner in which the left hand side (in the drawing the right hand side) half-section of a corset in accordance with my invention can be made of highly elastic and in various directions readily extensible material known per se, consisting of parallel rubber threads interconnected by extremely thin yarn. Fig. 2 is a front view of a corset which comprises a section consisting of two halves made in accordance with my invention, which halves, however, have not yet been secured to one another by a hinged seam, a portion of the right hand side (in the drawing left hand side) of the section being cut olf.

Fig. 3 is a section along the line III--III -in Fig. 2.

With reference to Fig. 1, the left hand side half-section is manufactured of a piece of said material approximately in the form of an elongated rectangle 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, the shorter sides of which are convex and whose longer sides are formed by the legs of a salient angle of somewhat less than 180. The direction of the rubber threads is about parallel with the -longer sides of the piece.

This piece of material is iirst folded down through 180 about the straight line 10, 11 drawn about centrally between the longer sides of the piece and in parallel relation with the rubber threads, so that the lower portion of said piece overlies the upper portion and the points 4 and 6 are shifted to the positions 4 annd 6', respectively.

Thereupon said two portions are secured -to one another by a seam indicated by the dotted broken line 1-2, 13, 14. This seam starts from the point 12 on the line 72,952,261 Patented Sept. 13, 1960 10, 11 and runs at a small angle thereto downward to the point 13 some distance below the middle of said line, whence it runs straight upward with reference to said line to meet the same in 14. The distances of the points 12 and 14 to the shorter sides 4, 9 and 6, 7, respectively, are smaller than those of said points to the middle of the piece.

Thereafter, the underlying portion of the piece is returned. The latter is then provided with a pleat formed by the portion of double thickness bound by the line 12, 13', 14, the width of said pleat decreasing from a maximum in the middle to about nil at either end. The upper edge of the piece under these conditions is designated by 4, 5', 6, the lower edge by 9, 8', 7.

If desired, the piece of material may be provided with two, or even more pleats as described, the one below the other.

The piece of material is now folded down through about the line 5', 8', so that the left hand side portion thereof overlies the right hand side portion and the points 4 and 9 assume the positions 4" and 9", respectively. The folding line 5', 8 intersects the pleat where the same has its maximum width, and is curved so as to be approximately parallel with the curved short side 6, 7. Indeed, owing to the presence of the pleat, the piece of material is no longer llat.

In the upper portion of the piece, one half of the pleat extends from the -line 5', 8 in an upwardly inclined direction, wherein the other half extends in a downwardly inclined direction in the lower portion of the piece, as is clearly seen from Fig. 2. ln said ligure, the left hand side (in the drawing the right hand side) halfsection 5', 4, 9", `8 assumes the same position as in Fig. 1.

The right hand side (inthe drawing the left hand side) half-section of the corset is made analogously, whereupon the opposite, curved edges 5', 8' of both halves are still to be interconnected by a hinging seam. It is pertinent to be remarked that in accordance with Fig. 2 said edges do not yet engage one another and that they deline a lens-shaped aperture. Obviously, said seam cannot be straight, but it is necessarily concave in a plane at iight angles to the drawing plane, so that the central portion of the corset will exert a resilient pressure on the underlying portion of the body of the user, which pressure increases as the corset is transversely stretched by the body. Said pressure is further increased by the pleats being stretched, which pleats, as follows from the foregoing, extend at an appreciable angle to the direction of the rubber threads in the material.

Finally, the still loose edges 5', 6 and 8', 9 of the left hand side (in the drawing the right hand side) halfsection are secured to the part lying under or on top thereof, and the same is the case with the corresponding edges of the other half.

If so desired, the corset may be inished in any conventional manner.

What I claim is:

1. A method of manufacturing a half-section of a corset of material substantially consisting of parallel, highly resilient threads, comprising the steps of folding down an elongated, approximately rectangular piece of said material whose longer sides are about parallel with the said threads, about a first line in parallel relation with said threads, of interconnection both layers of material by a seam extending from a point on said line on the side of one shorter side of the piece, running at a small angle to said line to approximately `the middle of the piece and thence to a point on said line on the side of the other shorter side of the piece, of subsequently unfolding said piece for forming a pleat and of finally folding down said pleated piece along a second line Y i 3 intersecting the said first line approximately in the middle thereof and at an oblique angle thereto.

2. A method as claimed in claim l, having each of said longer `sides of piece of said material formed by the legs of an obtuse salient angle.

3. In a figure-controlling garment a Ysection comprising two halves made of material which is stretchable in at least one direction, each of said halves having substantially the s hape of an elongated parallelogram, the longer sides of which being substantially parallel to the direction of stretch of said material, said halves having animerconnecting stitched hinge along a line at an oblique angle with the direction of stretch, said interconnecting stitched hinge being curved inwardly, each of said halves being folded down along said line thereby forming two partially overlapping parts, both extending at the same side of said it t interconnecting stitched hinge in two directions making an angle with each other, said parts of each half section having at least one common pleat having the shape of a V with tapering legs, one leg of said V extending from a point on said interconnecting stitched hinge in the one part of said half section and the other leg extending from the same point in the other part.

4. A figure-controlling garment according to vclaim .3, wherein each of said longer sides of said piece of mate- 10 rial consists of a leg of an obtuse salient angle.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gould June 2, 1953 2758.311 Studler Aug. 14, 1956 

